Father Christmas is one of the most popular characters in popular culture – at the time of writing he has been portrayed on film more than 800 times (for reference, Jesus racks up just 360). And while depictions have been mostly sympathetic, a few film-makers have felt the need to explore his dark side. Block your chimney, board up your windows and grab a glass of wine as I run through my favourite bad Santas.

A Christmas Story

Ralphie Parker, the film's child protagonist, isn't particularly likeable, so it's easy to sympathise with the Santa in this clip. That said, neither he nor his elves are really delivering customer service at an acceptable level (traumatising kids, and booting one in the forehead, is generally frowned upon).

Bad Santa

Billy Bob Thornton's misanthropic alcoholic mall Santa Willie is actually a thief trying to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the mall's safe. In this scene, he tells his partner in crime, Marcus, how proud he is about beating up a group of teenagers. For most people assaulting adolescents would be a low point, so it's a sign of how depraved he is that Willie (and the audience) view this as redemption.

Christmas Evil

After witnessing his mother being groped by Santa as a child, Harry grows up to be a Christmas-obsessed weirdo who spies on children and records their actions in his naughty and nice lists. On Christmas Eve, he glues a beard to his face and breaks into houses to distribute presents and murder his enemies. In this scene, he dispenses some advice to children at a Christmas party, just minutes after stabbing a man in the eye with a toy soldier's bayonet. The performance by Brandon Maggart (AKA Fiona Apple's dad) somehow manages to make Harry both incredibly sinister and sympathetic.

City Of Lost Children

What's scarier than one murderous Santa? If you guessed two murderous Santas, then you're on the right track, but you lack ambition. In the opening scene to City of Lost Children, directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet give us about 30 of them, and they don't look very jolly.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2

This 1987 slasher is one of the worst films I've ever seen, but it's also got one of the most memorable examples of an evil Father Christmas I can think of. While the Santas in Bad Santa and Christmas Evil are flawed but ultimately well-meaning individuals, Ricky Caldwell of Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is an utterly indefensible psychopath. For proof, look no further than this closing scene, in which he kills a nun.